


Exposure

by Trefoil_9



Series: Undertale Flash Fictions [11]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Angst, F/M, Flash Fic, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Grillby's alias is Kip, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Infiltration, Kip refuses to think about it so I don't have to write about it yay, Sharing Body Heat, Sharing a Bed, Torture, barely, it's in the background
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-31 19:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12688713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trefoil_9/pseuds/Trefoil_9
Summary: Someone requested me to write a flashfic about Kip's time training (read: being tortured into an appearance of perfect submission) with Snowflower, something I intentionally skipped over in the main story. So here's that. [Snowflower affiliated. Probably canon, unless I decide and state otherwise in the main story.]Kip tries to fend off rule-defying friendship attempts from one of his fellow trainees.





	Exposure

Companions should be unflappable and unflinchingly loyal. Their conditioning shifted between phases designed to train and test a wide range of skills. This one was to test endurance, and, Kip guessed from the two empty beds that still hadn’t been removed, to cull the weak.

Earlier in the day he’d been commanded to hold his left hand underwater for several minutes. He wondered what the others who weren’t allergic to water had been subjected to, and what the two unfortunate ones had done—if anything. Maybe they’d just been decided unworthy.

He was lying curled up on his side, his burned hand cradled close to his chest. The heat had been turned off, as it sometimes was. They had no blankets and the stupid short shift he was wearing wasn’t much help, but it was alright as long as he kept his body compacted like this.  
The thing was, they were supposed to sleep on their backs, so he’d trained himself to wake up every fifteen minutes, roll over, and stay still until the guard had passed.

He was woken by a sound of movement and quickly flipped over.  Mara moved away from his side. She was one of the others, a dragon girl with bluish scaly skin and mauve eyes. She couldn’t stand cold and was bad at waking herself up when overtired. He knew not because they’d ever spoken—they hadn’t—but because he’d heard her dragged out of bed and beaten for it several times over the past few nights. He stared up at her. She knew very well how strict the humans were about discipline, what was she doing?  
“Five minutes,” she whispered, arms clasped tight around her shivering body. He understood, and shook his head.  
“The guard comes back in four.”  
She went back to her bed and Kip returned to his curled position.  
He’d been a bit off, it was more like six minutes before he heard the approaching steps and flipped back into position.

Mara would probably be one of the next to die. Then again, he’d thought that before and she was still around. Maybe not.  
The problem was that Snowflower wasn’t interested in Monster Companions on a large scale. They needed one, for a very specific task, and the rest would probably be killed. The humans were unlikely to be merciful now, near the end of a war to exterminate monsters, which they were undeniably winning.  
Kip meant to be the last one standing. It was his mission. That didn’t make him hate Snowflower any less.

Mara was back. She lightly touched his shoulder, “please—” he uncurled and scooted to the very edge of the bed, patting the warmed space in front of his body. She started to move away from the motion, then understanding, walked around and practically flung herself down, nestling her back into his chest. He passed an arm over her and she seized his burned hand. He hissed and jerked it away. For a few moments they shuffled awkwardly before settling into a more or less comfortable position, his arms clasped around her belly, burned hand comfortably clear, her tail wrapped around one of his legs. Her breaths gently rocked his body and her shivers sank through his skin. If either of them moved the other would probably roll onto the floor.  
It was nice to stretch out for a change and keep some of his body heat. He tried to sleep, knowing he’d need the rest.  
Slowly she stopped shivering and fell asleep. Kip did not.  
He needed to make sure they weren’t caught like this or they’d both be in deep trouble, which they still would be if any of the others noticed and ratted them out, but that was a concern for another day. Also, he admitted to himself, the defenseless body in his arms stirred up echoes of a protective instinct. It was unreasonable and he intended to forget about it as soon as possible, but for the moment he allowed himself to enjoy it.

When close to fifteen minutes had passed he shook her awake and whispered “move.” She tumbled off the bed and returned to hers and he lay on his back until the footsteps had passed.  
He wondered if she would come back, but she didn’t. The rest of his night passed normally in shuffling back and forth between cold and relative comfort.

The next day at breakfast a hand slid into his space and he slammed his hand down over his uneaten piece of bread. Someone had stolen his bread once before he could get to it.  
He stared in confusion at the extra half-piece of bread that had appeared in front of him, then realized that Mara had taken the seat next to him. Quickly he slid the bread back over to her. She returned it. He turned to glare at her, and she glared back.  
It was less troublesome just to accept the bread. He bolted it. No sense wasting it.

Time seemed confused when he looked back, but he thinks it was two days later that she died. It was during a drill, they were all together, kneeling. These were easy, Kip thought. He just had to keep perfect posture, respond correctly to any questions directed at him, and never flinch. Mara was out of sight somewhere down the line. The Commander was near her when there was a sudden out-of-place sound, like someone falling, and he stopped. Kip refused to turn his head, but tried to look out of the corner of his eye. What had she done? Had she broken position?  
The human slashed his baton and Kip heard bone snapping, followed a moment later by the hissing sound of a body turning to dust.  
After a moment of shock (what did she do?! why was she so stupid!) he felt relief. Good, she wouldn’t be one of the last. He’d rather not deal with that. There had been speculation that the last few would be allowed (commanded.) to practice on each other for points, and he’d rather not touch someone he felt he had a relationship with, however slight.  
She wasn’t cold anymore, something unexpected in him remarked.  
 The Commander stopped in front of him and raised his head with a touch of the baton under his chin. He kept his face impassive.

 

A/N:   
[main story](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12154791/chapters/27582513)


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